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Carbon Neutral Consulting – Is it actually possible?

In today’s fast paced world of international globetrotting, to meet the constantly shifting needs of the client, one wonders if climate change even comes into the equation when selecting the right consultants or consulting companies to get the work done.

I am not here to preach that consulting companies or their clients must be carbon neutral, and furthermore I am not going to jump into the debate about the impact of man on climate change, I will leave that debate for others to iron out.

What is important and what I intend to discuss is how can organizations and people who want to make a difference in this area can succeed in doing so. We know for a fact that many people in many different organizations are concerned about climate change and, they want their organizations to do more about it.

So, what can those people and their organizations do about it? They can certainly start by looking at their own situation and staff to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint. They can start with the small things like recycling cans, plastics and paper in the office. They can encourage their employees to take mass transit or carpool to and from work when it is practical. All these things are steps in the right direction, yet how many of those same firms hire outside consultants to help them get work done?

Do the subcontracted consultants help promote the goal of reduced carbon footprint? One could argue that if consultants fly in from other cities each week to work with the organization or if they need to be on a 20-hour flight from the other side of the world on a regular basis, they are most likely expanding the organization’s carbon footprint rather than reducing it.

How does an organization even begin to influence the carbon neutrality of the consultants they use? Does the organization need to stipulate that the consultants they employ ride their bicycles to their home offices? Do they need to insist that the consultants take mass transit or walk to the organization’s offices to be on the right side of carbon neutrality?

At the end of the day, it might be a complicated exercise to try to figure out how much outside consultants negatively impact the organization’s carbon footprint. There must be an easier way to go green and still be able to the hire the talented consultants you need.

If climate change is a big concern for your group, then why not work with consultants who work remotely and are based in a country that has communicated a plan to be a carbon neutral country by 2021. From a country that already gets 98 percent of its electricity from renewables. From a country whose leadership once stated “it is the constitutional right of the people to enjoy a clean environment”1

That country is Costa Rica, and that is where Lanshore has its nearshore consulting team based.

Costa Rica’s carbon neutral goal was announced by president Luis Guillermo Solis at the opening of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Weekin January of this year. Costa Rica’s President went further, he said that in other countries “the negative effects of previous [thermal-focused] energy policies are too obvious to ignore — and these previous models are no longer viable.”2

If reducing your carbon footprint is important to your organization, and your outside IT consultants are not doing their part to help with the carbon equation, then maybe it is time for your organization to start looking to Costa Rica for your outside IT consulting needs. Through its team in Costa Rica, working remotely, Lanshore is doing more that its part to reduce the carbon footprint of the clients that it works with.